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Monday, July 14, 2014

Dozens of young men protesting Israel’s actions in Gaza briefly besieged a Paris synagogue and clashed with security.

At least three Jews were taken to the hospital as a result of the clashes that erupted Sunday between the protesters and young Jewish men who guarded the Don Isaac Abravanel Synagogue in Paris, a witness told JTA.

“The attackers splintered off an anti-Israel demonstration and advanced toward the synagogue when it was full,” Alain Azria, a French Jewish journalist who covered the event told JTA.

Azria said that when the demonstrators arrived at the central Paris synagogue, the five police officers on guard blocked the entrance as the protesters chanted anti-Semitic slogans and hurled objects at the synagogue and the guards. He said nearly 200 congregants were inside.

“They were determined to enter and the police did not have enough forces,” he said.

There were also unconfirmed reports that some slogans among the demonstrators went beyond mere support of Palestinians.

"We had multiple witnesses who told us they heard cries of 'Death to Jews,'" Reingewirtz said according to Le Parisien. "I call on them to cease blaming Jews in France for the conflict, as they have nothing to do with it." He added: "It is scandalous that these individuals would use the pretext of the conflict [in the Middle East] to attack Jews and call for the deaths of Jews."

Meanwhile, a member of France's Ecologist Party is facing reprisals for tweeting Saturday evening an apparent justification of attacking synagogues. "When synagogues start acting like embassies, one cannot be surprised to see them attacked in the same way," Pierre Minnaert said. The head of the Ecologist Party swiftly rebuked him.